Kolkata

It is clear to me that while on the one hand the Union Government is making a big public display of offering additional resources to the State Governments through a higher rate of tax devolution, on the other it has negated those additional resources by curtailing allocation under major heads of the different centrally sponsored schemes for the State Governments says Amit Mitra, Bengal finance minister

The swine flu toll in the state rose to eight on Saturday after one more death in the city. A two-and-a-half-year-old baby, Anwesha Pramanik, from Joynagar in South 24-Parganas succumbed to the H1N1 virus at BC Roy Memorial Hospital for Children here. Anwesha is the third child to die of swine flu in the state this year.

A 22-year-old woman was allegedly gang raped in front of her husband by three miscreants near Howrah’s Mourigram railway station late on Thursday night. The husband was reportedly tied to a tree and held at gunpoint while the rape occurred. Two of the three rapists were arrested

The Trinamool Congress is gearing up to reduce the formidable former No. 2 in the party, Mukul Roy, to a non-entity. Roy may be removed from the posts of chairman of the Trinamool’s parliamentary party and the party’s leader in the Rajya Sabha — two of the last important posts he holds.

No fresh taxes, heightened allocation for minority development, 40 lakh bicycles to students and sops for traders — it is a heady mix of doles. But opposition parties in the state allege that all this has been done keeping in mind the assembly polls.

Following a series of transport strikes by opposition parties, the Trinamool Congress government has made a desperate attempt to woo the sector’s workers during the state budget on Friday. “Chief minister Mamata Banerjee is concerned about the transport workers of the state.

Dilli Chalo in 12 hours. In another two years, a superfast train traveling at an average speed of 200 kmph will take you to Delhi in just 12 hours. This will be possible if the railway minister’s proposals are executed without a hitch. Rajdhani Express currently takes 17 hours to cover 1,447 km

A statement by Murshidabad pointsman Humayun Kabir on Wednesday that it would take no more 50 MLAs to jump fences for the Mamata gover nment to be reduced to a minority has sent alarm bells ringing in the ruling camp.

The CBSE Class 12 exam will start from March 2 and by the pre-board papers uploaded by the CBSE, the question pattern for the upcoming exam is in for a shift from objectivetype questions to applicationbased ones. Students can also expect some long answer-type questions.

Setting aside months of bitter acrimony dating back to the 2014 Lok Sabha poll campaign trail, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking an appointment to bargain for relief for her debt-stressed state.

State education minister Partha Chatterjee is aiming to develop Bengal as a higher education hub. The state government has already constituted an education commission to prepare a road map/vision document for 2020 and 2030 for the state’s education sectors.

It seldom gets more tragic than this. On Sunday night, in between her last-minute preparation for the Madhyamik exam on Monday, the 16-year-old took a break, hopped across to the sweetmeat shop run by her neighbour for a bite, but returned home raped and traumatized by the man she knew so well.

Following their stupendous Delhi sweep, AAP leaders are quietly rolling out a plan for testing the waters in Bengal. For starters, they have planned a unique helpline number where citizens of Kolkata can call for help in civic or law and order problems and a youth wing of college students and young professionals who will be trained in Delhi.

The schedule of the ongoing budget session of the state assembly is such that chief minister Mamata Banerjee can easily avoid fielding or replying to questions from the opposition MLAs during the entire session.